Hidden Secrets
by AllInMyStories
Summary: Dana has a dark secret that is about to be revealed to old friends by two 18 year old girls from her past. Now finished! R&R!
1. Searching

Author Notes: Hey, this is a completely new fic idea. I usually don't write Strong Medicine stories about Dana, I know, but this one just came to me, thanks to Kay! This takes place I guess about mid-season four. Note-Dana is now in Virginia, remember? And Nick is still there...Kayla Thornton is yet to arrive at Rittenhouse.  
  
Dedication: To Kay for inspiring me so much and to Megan for helping me out with this story.  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own anything....duh.  
  
Feedback: Same as usual. I love reviews!!  
  
Hidden Secrets: Chapter 1  
  
Krystal Marie Johnson opened her eyes slowly. The morning light shinning through her lavender window curtains caused her to quickly shut them again. The sounds of birds chirping on the big oak tree outside her window made her realize it must have been early. She glanced at her clock and yawned as she saw that it was seven. Krystal kept looking at the clock waiting for her twin sister, Kayla Whitney Johnson, to come running into her room. Since she could remember Kayla would come into her room at exactly seven oh one on the day of their birthday. Today was no different. It was their eighteenth birthday and just as Krystal thought, Kayla came bouncing into her room and jumped on her like a little girl.  
  
"Ugh." Krystal grunted. She looked up to see Kayla smiling while her long curly brown locks floated down around her face.  
  
Krystal and Kayla were practically identical. The only difference was that Krystal had naturally straight brown hair while Kayla's was curly. They both had big blue eyes with long dark brown eyelashes and brows to match their hair. Also, big smiles were always on their faces under a slender nose. Neither girl knew which parent they got their looks from considering they didn't know their parents. Three years ago, on their fifteenth birthday, their so called 'mom and dad' leaked the information that both Krystal and Kayla had been adopted from an orphanage when they were just a few months old. The news had hit them hard as ever but they got through it and realized they still loved the parents they had.  
  
Something inside them directed them into searching though. A feeling and a need to find their biological parents had sat with them since they found out they had been adopted. So, since their sixteenth birthday, the two girls set out researching it and discovering various information.  
  
After awhile of full dedication and raising enough money, they decided that on their eighteenth birthday they were going to set out on the road and finally meet their real parents. A shock had hit them again though around the age of seventeen when they discovered that they're biological dad wasn't living anymore. He had died in a terrible car accident a few years after they were born. Kayla and Krystal wondered why their parents abandon them when they were little and why they never came to find them as they got older.  
  
Kayla forced Krystal to get out of bed and start getting dressed as she did the same. "By the way, Happy Birthday Sis." Kayla yelled while heading back into her own bedroom.  
  
Krystal smiled and shook her head. "Same to you Sis." She responded and walked into the joint bathroom that connected to both bedrooms.  
  
Kayla walked into the bathroom to join her sister after a minute of getting dressed. She had slid on a pair of jean overalls with a blue shirt under it. She started pulling her hair back into a ponytail. "So.....you ready for tomorrow?"  
  
"Yep. I'm nervous. I have a feeling you are to." Krystal said.  
  
"Gee, I wonder why? Maybe because we are going to meet our biological mother for the first time in eighteen years?"  
  
"That could be it." Krystal said and laughed. She put her hair into a ponytail also and headed into her room to put on identical overalls but with a purple shirt underneath. "I'm really glad Mom and Dad are ok with this."  
  
"Me to. I thought they would freak when they found out we were really going to meet her." Kayla responded with a sigh as she put on some fresh make up.  
  
"Totally." Krystal said and walked back into the bathroom. They both looked at each other in the mirror and laughed. Ever since they were little, they always loved how they looked almost exactly alike and they could wear the same clothes. "I wonder what they have planned for us today?"  
  
"Probably another family dinner, just the four of us. Same as every year Krys."  
  
Krystal laughed at her nickname. "Probably." She responded and started putting on fresh make up herself. "Do you think she'll like us Kay?"  
  
"I sure hope so. We aren't that bad...right?"  
  
Krystal shrugged and semi-smiled as she finished with her make up. "Come on, let's get downstairs."  
  
"Ok." Kayla agreed and put one last touch on her blush before following her twin sister out of the room.  
  
--------------------  
  
Kayla and Krystal were greeted with smiles by their parents when they got downstairs.  
  
"Happy Birthday girls." Their father said.  
  
"Thanks Dad." They said in unison.  
  
Their mother giggled and motioned for them to sit down for breakfast. She placed two pancakes on each girl's plate with a plate of bacon in between them. "Are you glad that you're finally eighteen?"  
  
"Yep." They said in unison again.  
  
"What do you have planned tonight?"  
  
"Nothing yet." Kayla responded.  
  
"Oh, well aren't you two going to do something for your birthday? With your friends or something?" Their mother asked. Both girls looked at her strangely. Usually this was the time when they asked them if they wouldn't mind just having a family dinner. "Your father and I are going to your Aunt Mel's house for dinner." She stated.  
  
"Oh." The girls said.  
  
"We thought we would have a family dinner like always." Krystal said slowly.  
  
"Really? Oh...well, you're welcome to come to you're Aunts house with us if you want."  
  
"We'll think about it." Kayla said and continued eating her pancakes.  
  
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After breakfast, the twins jumped into their Jeep Wrangler that they shared. Their parents had gotten it for them on their sixteenth birthday. Krystal was driving this time. They were going to the mall and local Wal- Mart to finish shopping for things they would need for their trip.  
  
Kayla flipped on the radio and played with the stations. "I can't believe they didn't plan a family dinner." She said randomly.  
  
"I know. They always do a dinner for us. What are we going to do instead?"  
  
"There's nothing we can do...with other people. All of our friends are mysteriously all on vacations this week, remember?"  
  
"Yeah. We could just hang out together." Krystal suggested.  
  
"No offense Sis, but I'm going to be hanging with you all day tomorrow. I wanted to chill with you and our parents, or friends." Kayla responded.  
  
"Yeah, same here." She responded. "Then, let's just go with Mom and Dad to Aunt Mel's."  
  
"Fine. What a great eighteenth birthday huh?"  
  
"Pssh...yeah right." Krystal said and pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot.  
  
-------------------  
  
That night, the girls dressed in identical looking shirts and tops. The only difference like always, was that they were different colors. Kayla had on a black and pink striped skirt with a matching pink tank top while Krystal had on a black and orange striped skirt with a matching orange tank top. Since, the girls took too long shopping that day they were running a little late for dinner. They promised their parents they would hurry but Kayla was driving and she always took extra precautions while under stress. It was a bad combination when she thought about it because when she was running late, which was a lot, she would drive slower and more carefully and be even later than she had already planned.  
  
"Would you step on it some?!" Krystal ordered from the passenger seat.  
  
"You know how I am Krys so just shut up. It's not that big of a deal." She responded staring at the road in front of her.  
  
"Yeah, I do know how you are. And it's a good thing I don't have that quality because...I mean, how would that look after medschool and I'm in residency at some strange hospital and surgery or something?..."  
  
"Uh, bad." Kayla said. "I can't believe you want to be a doctor...eww..blood...gross." She shivered at her words.  
  
"It's genetic remember?"  
  
"Yeah I remember. That's another thing that isn't the same about us. You like blood, I hate it."  
  
"I don't like blood...that's just morbid. I like the idea of saving peoples lives and helping those in need." Krystal responded and looked out her window.  
  
Kayla shook her head and continued to look at the road in front of her. Within minutes, they pulled up in the driveway of their Aunt's big mansion. Both girls quickly got out of their car and ran to the front door. It was locked so they rang the doorbell and waited.  
  
"Hello ladies." Their Aunt greeted as she swung the big glass and wood door open.  
  
"Hello Aunt Mel." They greeted back in unison. As they entered the house, it was completely dark. The only light that could be seen was in the dinning room where their parents already sat at the long dinning table.  
  
"As I was telling your parents girls, I completely forgot about tonight and let my maid have the night off. Will you help me with the food?" Their Aunt asked.  
  
Kayla and Krystal looked at them all awkwardly. Something was up and they knew as soon as she had said that she gave her maid the night off. She never did that and she never forgot about family dinners. The twins headed towards the kitchen first shrugging at each other on their way. Their Aunt and parents followed.  
  
The lights were off in the kitchen and Kayla reached to flip them on. When she did, both of the twin's jaws dropped. Several of their closest friends were standing there in party outfits with balloons and Hawaiian lays around their necks.  
  
"Oh my god." They said together.  
  
"Surprise!!" Everybody else yelled at them. Big smiles were coming from all different directions. Kayla and Krystal looked at their parents and Aunt with smiles of their own.  
  
"You guys did this?" Kayla asked.  
  
They nodded. "We knew you'd fall for it."  
  
"Thanks." Krystal responded and the two girls gave them all hugs. After a few seconds, their friends came to them and greeted them, wishing them a happy birthday and saying that they should have seen the look on their faces when the lights went on.  
  
--------------------  
  
After the party ended, it was late as ever and the girls still had to make the drive back home and get up early in the morning to leave for a very long road trip. They quickly gathered all their presents into their jeep and Krystal drove them home considering Kayla could barely keep her eyes open. The next morning, they woke up to their alarm clocks and were constantly yawning as they both got dressed.  
  
Kayla and Krystal heading into their bathroom at the same time and saw each other. They sighed and realized they were wearing almost exactly the same thing again. Kayla had on blue jeans and a black shirt while Krystal had on blue jeans and a white shirt. They both shook their heads and put on their make up. Kayla pulled her hair into a ponytail again but Krystal left hers down.  
  
For the next hour they packed their car up and kissed their parent's goodbye. They had figured they would be traveling all day from their hometown of Sanford, Maine to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were going to have to travel through three different states to get to their destinations.  
  
While on the road, the girls listened to the radio mostly and occasionally one of them would pop in a favorite CD. Krystal did most of the driving while Kayla sat in the passenger seat and concentrated on her journal. Unlike her twin, Kayla wanted to become a writer in her future. She kept journals about everything and wrote down anything that popped into her head. Most of her stories or poems were of being a twin and their experiences together.  
  
Now she was writing about what she saw in the towns they would stop at for gas or to use the restroom. Everything seemed to inspire her lately: music, movies, and random people in the mall or on the street. She seemed to be full of different thoughts about life and she put all her thoughts on paper.  
  
On one of their pit stops, she found a young couple stopping also from what seemed like a long road trip. She could tell they had just fallen in love and gotten into a serious relationship by the way they were acting. The kind of couple that is all lovey-dovey and constantly linking arms or holding hands, even when he was paying for their drinks and gas. It made her think of the special someone she used to have in her life before they all graduated. Her boyfriend then went off to college in Michigan and left her there alone. He had told her before he left that he didn't want to be tied down while starting college and she, with sadness, has agreed to move on herself.  
  
Kayla remembered exactly how it had happened. Afterwards, her sister was there for her. Krystal was always there for her and vice versa. They were twins and they stuck together. It inspired her to write more and more on their trip. Not only about her old flames but Krystals to. Her twin sister had been in love with an older man earlier in the year but it hadn't worked out. He also left her alone in Maine for a new job in Texas. Their parent's had always warned them about how hard it would be and that sometimes love hurts. Both girls knew that now and it only brought them closer together.  
  
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After many, many hours of traveling, the girls arrived at their destination earlier than they thought they would. The Rittenhouse Women's Health Center was just a few feet away. Both girls tried to swallow past the knot in their throats and took a few deep breaths before entering.  
  
Lana Hawkins was sitting at her receptionist desk as usual and Dr. Lu Delgado was looking at a patient's file next to her. Dr. Andy Campbell walked out of her office and saw the two twins standing there awkwardly.  
  
"Can we help you?" Andy asked slowly approaching them.  
  
"Umm..." Kayla said.  
  
Krystal looked at her twin and then back at the women in front of them. "We're looking for Dr. Dana Stowe." She said.  
  
Lu and Lana heard them mention Dana's name and approached them like Andy had.  
  
"What do you need with Dr. Stowe?" Lana asked curiously but awkwardly. The twins looked familiar to Lu and Lana.  
  
"Dr. Delgado?!" A manly voice called from behind them all. It was Dr. Nick Biancavilla from the Emergency Room. He noticed he was interrupting something when he walked to them. "Sorry. It's just a patient thing. Is everything ok?"  
  
"They're looking for Dana." Lana said.  
  
Nick looked at the girls curiously and thought they looked familiar to. Andy looked around at them all.  
  
"What's the big deal? You're probably just old patients of Dr. Stowe's right?" She asked the twins.  
  
Kayla and Krystal shook their head no in unison.  
  
"Who are you?" Lu asked.  
  
"I'm Kayla Whitney Johnson."  
  
"And I'm Krystal Marie Johnson."  
  
"Dr. Dana Stowe.....is our mother." They said together.  
  
End Hidden Secrets: Chapter 1  
  
Hey!! How about that cliffie! I bet you guys are like "WTF?!!!" Hehe..you'll see what happens in the next chapter. Review please!! 


	2. Arriving

Author Notes: Hey! I'm back! This is chapter two, as you already know. I hope you guys are enjoying this new fic, whoever's out there reading it of course.  
  
Dedication: To Janine Turner even though I don't like her that much.  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own anything.  
  
Feedback: Reviews rock my world so send away just please don't be hurtful.  
  
Hidden Secrets: Chapter 2  
  
"Dr. Dana Stowe.....is our mother." They said together.  
  
There were pauses and shocked looks from everybody around them. "What?" Lu said quietly with her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.  
  
"Did you say mother?" Andy asked. She hadn't actually met Dana in person but she knew that the only children she had were the ones she adopted before she left.  
  
"That's impossible." Nick stated and stared at them along with the others.  
  
Kayla and Krystal looked around guilty and awkwardly.  
  
"Is she here?" Kayla finally asked.  
  
"Dana Stowe doesn't run her practice here anymore no." Lu responded. "She moved to Virginia."  
  
It was the twin's turn to be shocked now.  
  
"We traveled all the way from Maine to find out that she's not here!" Krystal said. "Ugh!"  
  
"Why don't we go into my office and talk." Lu suggested and led the girls to her office. Everybody followed them and they all sat down except for Andy who stood by the door. "You two must have something mixed up. It's not possible that Dana Stowe is your mother."  
  
"She's our biological mother. We were adopted when we were a few months old." Kayla explained.  
  
"But, Dana would never-"Nick started but then looked into the girls eyes. "Oh my god."  
  
"What?" Lana asked and stared at the girls to.  
  
"They have her big blue eyes...and her dark brown hair...and her slender nose...." He trailed off.  
  
Everybody stared at them and the girls smiled.  
  
"They have her smile to."  
  
"So we get our looks from our mother?" Krystal asked with hope.  
  
"No, you didn't because it's not possible that Dana Stowe is your mom!" Lu said.  
  
"Look, we have papers to prove it. Dana Stowe gave birth to two twin girls' eighteen years ago yesterday. She abandon us when we were just a few weeks old. The orphanage took us in until we were adopted. There's proof." Krystal responded in argument.  
  
"Dana wouldn't...she couldn't have...abandon you." Nick said. "That's not the kind of person she is."  
  
"Well, obviously it was the kind of person she was. She might have changed, we don't know because we've never met her. Three years ago we found out we were adopted and ever since we've been searching for our biological parents only to find that our mother was here and our father was dead." Kayla stated.  
  
"Who was your father?" Andy asked, butting into the conversation. Everybody had forgotten she was there until now.  
  
"Sean Thomas Black." They said together.  
  
"Sean Black." Nick said and continued to stare at the girls.  
  
"Did you know him?" Kayla asked.  
  
"No, but I've heard of him....." He responded and looked around at everybody. "From Dana."  
  
"What did she say about him?" Lu asked.  
  
"Only that he was a high school flame."  
  
"Well, obviously he was a little more than that." Lana stated.  
  
Nick looked at her in aggravation and Lana shrugged back. Lu shook her head and looked back at the girls.  
  
"This is so unbelievable." She said in awe.  
  
"Are you ready to believe us now?" Krystal asked patiently.  
  
They all took deep breaths and looked around at each other. Andy shrugged from the doorway.  
  
"I don't think I need to be here for anymore of this conversation. I didn't even know the women. I'll just be getting back to my patients." Andy said and started heading out the door.  
  
"Wait, Dr. C. Will you get Dr. Jackson down here for us?" Nick said. Andy nodded and left the room.  
  
Nick turned back to the girls. "What do you know about Dana Stowe?" He asked slowly.  
  
"Well..." Krystal started and looked at her twin, then back at Nick. "We know she's a doctor. All her medical background information. We never got a picture of her though. We don't know what she looks like."  
  
"Look in the mirror." Lu said quietly.  
  
The girls smiled again at her words.  
  
"Was she nice?" They asked together.  
  
"Psshh....." Lu started but stopped when Nick looked at her in disbelief.  
  
"Yes." He corrected Lu. "She was. A bit stubborn but nice overall." He stated reasonably. "Dana and I had a pretty close relationship."  
  
"How close?" Kayla asked with a smile.  
  
"Really close." He responded. "But that was a long time ago."  
  
"How can we find her?" Krystal asked impatiently. "Last thing we found out about her was that she was at Rittenhouse Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."  
  
"I believe Dr. Jackson has her files of transfer still. Her address and everything in Virginia." Nick assured them. "That's why I want him to come down here and meet you."  
  
They nodded in unison and kept asking more questions about Dana until Dr. Jackson entered the room. When Nick told him who they were, he didn't believe it at first but the twins looked so much like her that he was just completely shocked in the end.  
  
After awhile of explaining the story to Dr. Jackson, they all went out to the cafeteria to talk more. Lu asked Andy to take over the one patient she had in the mean time and Lana got a nurse to cover her desk. Nick also got another doctor in the ER to handle things so they could all find out what was going on. Lu ran into Peter on the way to the cafeteria and thought he should know what was going on. He was also shocked and didn't believe it at first. He also got somebody to cover his shift.  
  
The twins were excited with all the attention they were getting from the hospital. They all sat down outside with coffee.  
  
"We want to meet her." Krystal started. "We traveled all this way to finally see our biological mother and we found that she wasn't here. It's disappointing but we're not giving up. We're going to go to Virginia if we have to. We're going to meet Dr. Dana Stowe no matter what."  
  
Lu, Lana, Nick, Peter, and Dr. Jackson looked at the two shocked but then they all nodded.  
  
"That's completely understandable." Lana stated.  
  
"We also want to know more about her...." Kayla stated.  
  
Nick nodded. "I think we can tell you some things. What do you want to know?"  
  
"Is she married?"  
  
Nick paused. "Not the last time I saw her no."  
  
"What about other children?"  
  
"Other children?" Lu asked. They all hesitated not knowing how the twins would feel about siblings, biological or not. "Dana adopted two girls awhile ago." She said.  
  
The twins looked at her surprised. "Adopted?" They asked together.  
  
"Yes. One of them was just an infant...she named her after me Louisa Lee." Lu said. "The other one was around 5. Her name was Annie."  
  
"I don't get it." Kayla said. "How can she abandon us and then adopt two other girls later on in life."  
  
Lu shrugged and semi-smiled at the girls.  
  
Nick looked at his hands. "I don't get it either. She wanted children more than anything towards her last several months here. When she lost the baby, she adopted."  
  
"Lost the baby?" Krystal responded.  
  
"She got pregnant with my sperm but she lost the baby. And she never even once mentioned you two. Not even in her medical files. She lied about the whole thing." Peter noted.  
  
"She didn't lie. She just didn't say anything." Nick responded.  
  
"I almost gave her a child and I had no idea that she abandon two other ones eighteen years ago man. How was I suppose to know she wouldn't do it again?"  
  
"Because Dana isn't like that now...she wasn't like that when I dated her and she wasn't like that when you got her pregnant." Nick said defensively.  
  
"She dated you but got pregnant by him?" Kayla asked confused.  
  
"It's a long story." Nick and Peter said together.  
  
"I think Dr. Stowe has some explaining to do." Lana noted and looked around at them all.  
  
"This shouldn't be any of our business though." Lu responded.  
  
"Two teenage twins show up at your clinic looking for her and saying she's their mother is none of our business?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Speak for yourself."  
  
"Listen." Nick said, ignoring Lu and Lana. "I want to take you to Virginia to see her. I want explanations just as much as you do."  
  
"Why you?" Krystal asked.  
  
"Because......I loved her. And I still do." Nick answered.  
  
The girls nodded with a smile. "Ok. Let's go." They responded in unison.  
  
--------------------  
  
The next day, Nick took the day off and said that he probably wouldn't be back for a few days. It all depended on what would happen in Virginia and he said that he would call Dr. Jackson with updates. Everybody was curious to hear what was going to happen. To see if Dana would confess to abandoning Kayla and Krystal or not.  
  
They headed out around mid-afternoon by plane. Nick bought their tickets but it wasn't cheap. He didn't want to spend all day in a car driving though. They arrived at the destination a little late but it didn't matter. Nick looked at the piece of paper that had all Dana's information on it: number, cell number, house address, and clinic address. He decided to call her before heading over to her home.  
  
When he called her house he got the answering machine. Before leaving a message he hung up and then dialed her cell phone.  
  
"Hello?" The once familiar and sweet voice said from the other side of the payphone in the airport lobby.  
  
"Hi, Dana. It's Nick....Biancavilla."  
  
"Nick?!" She asked surprised. She was inside the grocery store shopping with Annie and Louisa. "How are you?!" She asked glad to speak with him after so long.  
  
"I'm good. I'm in Virginia."  
  
"Oh my god. What for?"  
  
"Came to see you. Brought you two lovely surprises." He responded and looked at Kayla and Krystal next to him. They smiled back knowing that he was talking about them.  
  
"Nick." She said his name in concern. "I wasn't expecting you to ever-"  
  
"I wasn't expecting me to ever come down here either Dana but I have and I think you need to know why."  
  
"Why?" She asked curiously.  
  
"I don't want you to find out over the phone. Is there some place I can meet you with the surprises so we can all talk?"  
  
"I'll be home shortly after I'm finished shopping." She said. "Do you have my address?"  
  
"Yes." He answered.  
  
"Well as long as your visiting why don't you stay for dinner."  
  
"I'd like that." He said. "What time?"  
  
"Umm....around six thirty if that's ok.."  
  
"That's great. Will your girls be there?"  
  
Kayla and Krystal looked at him confused but then realized he was talking about Annie and Louisa.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Ok, well I'll see you then..."  
  
"Ok." She said and was about to hang up her cell phone.  
  
"Oh, and Dana."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Cook for six." He said including Louisa in the dinner plans and hung up the phone.  
  
Dana paused and looked awkwardly at the phone after he hung up. She hung up herself and then placed her cell phone back in her purse. Annie looked at her strangely from the side of the shopping cart.  
  
"Who was that Mom?" The little girl asked.  
  
"Just....an old friend. He's stopping by for dinner. You met him awhile ago back in Philadelphia."  
  
"Oh." Annie responded and continued walking along the cart.  
  
Dana placed things into the cart hardly paying any attention to what she was grabbing off the shelves. She wondered what Nick was talking about. 'Cook for six?' She thought to herself. 'Is he bringing guests?' After a minute she shrugged it off and thought she just better do what he said.  
  
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Six thirty rolled around before Dana knew it. She had put on a nice outfit and looked at herself in the mirror. Annie smiled at her from the kitchen and Dana smiled back. She had been letting her hair grow out since she moved back to Virginia. It was now shoulder length and still the same dark brown it used to be. It was also straight with a slight curl at the bottom. She checked her make up in the mirror and looked at her big blue eyes. She always thought her eyes were too big but with the right eye shadow they looked fine to her. The doorbell rang and a big smile formed on her face. She hadn't seen Nick in so long and she was actually nervous about it.  
  
When she answered the door she saw him first and greeted him with that same big smile and a big hug.  
  
"It's so good to see you again." She whispered. Before he could responded Dana noticed Kayla and Krystal standing behind him. They were wearing nice out fits as well and were staring at her with big smiles and big blue eyes just like hers. She pulled away from Nick and stared at them in wonder. Her wonder turned to shock when they spoke.  
  
"Hi." Kayla said.  
  
"Hey." Krystal followed.  
  
Dana's jaw dropped. She knew who they were and couldn't believe it. Nick smiled in response to her look. She swallowed hard pass the lump in her throat and the twins did the same. Her mouth stayed open slightly in shock and she could hardly breath. Her babies from so long ago were there...standing in front of her..in front of her home...in front of their real mother.  
  
End Hidden Secrets: Chapter 2  
  
Hehehehe!! I like how this story is playing out. It's fun to write because all the people that I've talked to since I posted Chapter one are like 'Wow...This is interesting." And everything so...yeah. I love the reviews I'm getting so far. Keep em coming. And I'll see you in the next chapter. 


	3. Reuniting

Author Notes: Ok, I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to update this and it's even worse that I left you with a semi-cliffhanger. But here's the next chapter and I don't own any characters. I love the reviews, keep them coming.  
  
Hidden Secrets: Chapter 3  
  
"Oh my god." She said in shock. Her eyes never left the two girls standing on her doorstep. Nick's smile lessened and he looked at his old friend curiously.  
  
"You know who we are?" Kayla asked.  
  
Dana nodded and tried to hold back her tears. "This can't be happening." She said plainly and turned her glance to Nick.  
  
He shrugged.  
  
"Why did you bring them here?" She asked quietly.  
  
"We wanted to meet you." Krystal responded even though Dana's question wasn't directed towards her.  
  
"They came to Rittenhouse. They told us their story and I offered to bring them to you." Nick explained.  
  
Dana looked from the girls to Nick and then back at the girls. They were all still standing in the doorway on the breezy evening. She didn't know what to say to them. Their big blue eyes stared at her in wonder and she did the same to them. Annie ran out from the kitchen.  
  
"Mom!"  
  
Dana broke her stare and turned towards her daughter. "What is it?"  
  
"The oven is smoking." Annie said quietly.  
  
Dana went wide-eyed and ran to the kitchen. Annie stood and stared at the three in the doorway.  
  
"You can come in you know." She said politely and walked to the kitchen following the smoke trails.  
  
Nick, Kayla, and Krystal followed the little red head into the kitchen and waved in front of their faces so they wouldn't breath in too much smoke. When it cleared enough for them to see, they saw Dana leaning over a pot full of black hardness.  
  
"You never were that great of a cook." Nick commented with a laugh.  
  
"Oh shut up Biancavilla."  
  
"Wow, you just sounded like Dr. Campbell." He noted.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Oh, nobody." He answered remembering that she didn't know Andy.  
  
"Dinners ruined." Dana noted.  
  
"Again?" Annie said with disappointment.  
  
Dana looked at her annoyed and walked to the phone. "I hope you guys like Chinese." She said.  
  
"So, we can stay for dinner?" Nick asked.  
  
Dana stopped herself before dialing and looked at the people in her kitchen. The twins stood close to each other while Nick stood next to them. Annie had returned to her stool near the kitchen counter and she stood by the small desk on the opposite wall.  
  
"Well, you're already here." She said after a slight pause and handed them the menu. She walked to Annie and ran her fingers through her hair. "Do you want your usual?"  
  
Annie nodded. "Sweet and sour chicken." She reminded Dana.  
  
"Ok." Dana smiled down at the little girl. "Don't worry about what to get, I'm paying. Just decide and tell me." She said to the twins and Nick. They nodded and then told her. She wrote the orders down on a spare piece of paper and then added her own.  
  
Once she was done calling the restaurant and telling them she wanted delivery, she offered them something to drink. Nick had water while Kayla and Krystal had soda.  
  
Dana approached her daughter and bent down to her level. "Annie, sweetie, why don't you go watch some television in my room so we can talk out here?"  
  
The little girl looked around at them all and shrugged. "Ok mom." She said and ran down the hallway to Dana's room. Within a few seconds the door closed and Dana led them all to the living room to sit down.  
  
Kayla and Krystal looked around the house and then at their biological mother. She was staring at them in wonder and they smiled at it.  
  
"They look a lot like you don't they?" Nick asked unexpectedly.  
  
The twins blushed and Dana turned her attention to them. She didn't respond to his question. She didn't want to believe this was happening. They sat in silence for awhile.  
  
"What are your names?" Dana asked quickly.  
  
"Krystal Marie."  
  
"Kayla Whitney."  
  
"Pretty." She commented in response. "So, I guess you wanted to meet me as soon as you turned eighteen........considering that was yesterday."  
  
"You remembered?"  
  
"How could I not?" Dana said. "Giving birth to you two wasn't exactly the most painless thing I ever did." They paused. "Physically anyway." She added. They paused again. "I guess you have tons of questions right?"  
  
They nodded in unison.  
  
"Well, let's get started...." Dana said and sat back on her couch with Nick at her side. She never looked at him. Instead she stared at the twins. They stared back in silence. "What do you want to know?" She asked plainly.  
  
"Why did you abandon us?" Krystal asked.  
  
Dana could hear the hurt in her tone. She didn't answer right away. Her mind raced at possible answers. Finally she spoke up. "I always wanted a baby." She stated slowly. Dana licked her lips in nervousness. "When I found out there were two of you........" She shook her head. "I just got scared......."  
  
They looked at her in amazement and Nick did to.  
  
"I couldn't handle it by myself and I knew I couldn't manage med. school and internship while raising two kids. I knew it was the horrible way out but it was done and it can't be undone no matter how much I regret it." She said and held back her tears.  
  
"By yourself?" Kayla asked. "What happened to our father?"  
  
"Sean?" Dana asked surprised. They nodded and she shook her head. "Sean Black split the second he found out I was pregnant. He was just an old high school flame that turned out to be an even bigger coward than I was."  
  
Nick cleared his throat. "You told me about him." He stated. "You told me he was just a high school boyfriend. You failed to mention that he was the father of the two children you abandoned."  
  
"He was a high school boyfriend that I hooked up with a few years after we graduated. I didn't expect it to happen or anything to come of it."  
  
"Obviously something did." He said harshly.  
  
Dana looked at him but then turned back to the girls after shrugging it off. "Like I said, I was scared and I didn't know what to do. Abortion wasn't a belief of mine so I ruled that out immediately." She stated not caring if they were too young to understand. "My parents despite their arguments helped me through my pregnancy and a few weeks after you were born I made the hardest decision of my life. I didn't abandon you because I wanted to, I abandon you because I didn't feel like I deserved you." She said wiping away a few tears.  
  
"What?" Kayla asked confused.  
  
"I loved you with all my heart even if you're father bailed on me and my family thought of me as.....less than respectable." She said, putting it decently. "My mind got the best of me and it over ruled my heart. I didn't know what kind of mother I would make or if I was ready to become one so I did it. I left you with an anonymous agency in a different town and disappeared for a few days after that. When I returned home I was....shunned...by my family but I got used to it. I finished med. school and went to Philadelphia to find my cure for Breast Cancer."  
  
"You're were finding a cure for breast cancer?" Krystal asked curiously.  
  
Dana nodded and semi-smiled. Kayla looked at her twin annoyed.  
  
"Krystal." She said with a certain tone and her sister shut up. "How come you never came to find us?"  
  
Dana took in a deep breath and looked back and forth from Kayla to Krystal. "My actions haunted me....up until tonight....I always wanted to come get you girls but everytime I thought about it, I pictured you two growing up together and playing in the park with your adoptive parents. My heart told me to find you but my mind over ruled it once again. I figured by then you had your own lives with wonderful parents who treated you right. I didn't want to break that up even though I wasn't even sure you did have it."  
  
"We did." Krystal said. "We still do."  
  
Dana nodded and wiped away another tear. "But you still came to meet me..." She said slowly in confusion. "Why? For answers?....Well you got them."  
  
"Yeah, we did." Kayla answered and looked at her twin. "But we want more than that."  
  
Dana looked at them curiously.  
  
"We want to know you." Kayla said.  
  
"And we want you in our lives." Krystal added.  
  
She smiled. "And I want to know you to.......and I want to be in your lives." She responded as the doorbell rang. They paused and looked around. "That must be the food." She added and wiped away the last of her tears. She grabbed her wallet and headed towards the front door.  
  
Annie came running out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Dana placed the bags on the counter.  
  
"Mom?"  
  
"Yeah?" Dana asked.  
  
"Lu's awake." The little red head stated and smiled up at her mother.  
  
"Thank you sweetie." Dana responded. She smiled down at the little girl and then headed down the hallway to get the baby. Nick followed her unexpectedly as the others dug into the food.  
  
"You nicknamed her Lu?" He asked.  
  
Dana jumped at his appearance and then chuckled to herself. "I couldn't resist." She stated and picked the infant up out of her crib.  
  
Nick watched her cuddle the child in her arms before laying her down for a new diaper. "She's beautiful." He stated.  
  
"Yeah. She is." Dana responded and started changing the baby.  
  
"I'm sorry to have just sprung this on you Dana."  
  
She nodded and looked at him in between the changing. "I'm actually glad you did Nick. I've been wanting to get that story out of my system for eighteen years."  
  
"I can't believe you didn't tell me before."  
  
"I didn't tell anybody. My father thought of me as a cheap slut and a coward so why wouldn't anybody else right?" She asked in pity of herself.  
  
"I wouldn't have thought of you as that." Nick stated defensively. "I would have understood. I understand now Dana."  
  
She looked at him and smiled while scooping Lu up in her arms again. "It doesn't matter. That was the past. Yeah, it sucked what I did and it sucked that I kept it from everybody but it's out now. I'm sure everyone at Rittenhouse knows as well right?"  
  
Nick looked at her with guilt. "They told the story to all of us."  
  
"Who's included in all?"  
  
"Umm...Dr. Jackson." He started. Dana sighed at his name. "Dr. Delgado......Lana.....Peter......Andy."  
  
"Who's Andy?"  
  
"Oh, Dr. Andy Campbell. She's the doctor who took over your half of the clinic once you left."  
  
"Is she nice?"  
  
"You're changing the subject Dana." He stated.  
  
"It was a simple question Nick." She responded and rocked Lu back and forth in her arms.  
  
"Yes, she is. But she doesn't measure up to you."  
  
Dana smiled. "And you still think that even after you found out about my real past?" She asked slowly.  
  
Nick nodded. "Dana, I don't know quite how to tell you this....but....." He paused and she looked at him curiously. "I never got over you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I loved you then and......I love you now." He stated slowly.  
  
"Nick." She said plainly and turned away from him.  
  
"Dana, I wasn't ready for marriage then or children for that matter but I've lived without you for as long as I can take."  
  
She turned back to him and scrunched up her face in tears. "Don't." She said. "Don't do this Nick."  
  
"I can't help it. I need you Dana......more than ever." He said and took the baby from her. He laid Lu back in her crib and brushed her cheek before he turned back to Dana.  
  
She looked at him with wide eyes and started breathing heavily.  
  
"I made the mistake of letting you get away from me once Dana Stowe, I'm not letting it happen again." He stated with a smile. She looked at him with nervousness in her eyes. "I know a lot is being put on your shoulders tonight but......I have to do this....now." He said. Nick kneeled down on one knee with the smile still on his face. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small golden ring with a single diamond resting in the middle. He held it up to her in his right hand and grabbed her hand with his other. "Will you marry me?"  
  
Dana's jaw dropped at the sight of the ring and she gasped at his words. Her breath increased as she stared at it. Her mind raced as he waited for her to answer. She thought about the relationship they used to have and how she had always regretted leaving him behind. She held back her tears and licked her lips while sort of jumping up and down. She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat and then looked deeply into his eyes.  
  
"I still love you to Nick....." She said. He looked at her with hope. She looked back with satisfaction. "Yes, I will marry you." She finished her statement and her tears started to spill. He slid the ring on Dana's left hand and looked at it before standing up straight before her. They stared into each other's eyes before embracing in a long hug. Nick pulled Dana's upper body slightly away from his and paused briefly before kissing her. She kissed him back in pleasure and her heart felt like it was lifting.  
  
"I missed you." He said after breaking the kiss.  
  
"I missed you to." She responded and touched her lips to his again.  
  
After a few minutes of kissing and holding each other, Dana picked up Lu in her arms and they walked out of the bedroom. As they headed down the hallway he put his arm around her shoulder and she placed her free one around his waist. They came into the kitchen and caught everybody's attention. Kayla and Krystal stared at them curiously.  
  
"Something's going on...." Kayla said quietly and Krystal nodded in agreement.  
  
Dana and Nick both smiled and looked around at them all. "We're....engaged." Nick said.  
  
Annie's eyes widen and she dropped her fork in confusion. She was too young to know what engaged meant but she did know that this man was holding her mother very closely. Kayla and Krystal stopped eating and looked at each other before looking back to the new couple in shock.  
  
"Did we miss something?" Kayla asked in confusion.  
  
Dana laughed and placed Luisa Lee in her high chair.  
  
"How about we tell you the whole story over dinner?" Nick said and grabbed the Chinese food that he ordered. They all sat down at the kitchen table and ate as Dana and Nick explained their past together along with what had happened in her bedroom. Annie accepted Nick, having met him at Rittenhouse a while ago and liking him now. Kayla and Krystal told Dana their plans for the future and she was thrilled at each of their goals in life. She was reunited with her babies from eighteen years ago. And her babies were reunited with her. Now she would let her heart over rule her mind and live the rest of her life in happiness with everything she had always dreamed of.  
  
End Hidden Secrets: Chapter 3  
  
Ok, this story is now complete. I hope you guys liked the ending. I enjoyed writing it and getting reviews but I'm glad it's finished because now I have to move on to other current fics as well as new ideas. Thanks, bye. 


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